Geoffrey Dean reports from the annual Feria de Manzanilla

Those soothsayers who predict an uncertain future for sherry ought to have been in Sanlucar de Barrameda this week, where local consumption of it had to be marvelled at.

Those soothsayers who predict an uncertain future for sherry ought to have been in Sanlucar de Barrameda this week, where local consumption of it had to be marvelled at.

The annual Manzanilla Fair (Feria de Manzanilla), which dates back to the early 20th century and began on Tuesday, is a colourful five-day party where the whole town dresses up, dances flamenco and drinks manzanilla like water. It may be fortified to 15.5%, but its low acidity and light refreshing body with notes of apple and camomile, makes it slip down with the greatest of ease in the warm Andalucian sunshine.

Whisper it gently, but fino is enjoying something of a comeback in London, helped by the plethora of new tapas bars in the capital. That trend is set to be encouraged this summer in July when Waitrose is having a promotion of Solear, Barbadillo's iconic manzanilla brand that is aged for six years before bottling. Likewise, Lord's Cricket Ground in London is now selling fino at its restaurants and bars.

Barbadillo is also introducing its award-winning aged manzanilla "pasada" to the British off-trade for the first time. Oddbins takes delivery shortly of the Solear en Rama 2013, which picked up a gold medal at the IWC this year. At an expected price point of £11 for a 50cl bottle, it is remarkable value for such quality and age (eight years in old wooden barrels before bottling).

Barbadillo, which has been making manzanilla since 1821, also produces still table wine on an industrial scale - up to six million bottles per annum of palomino (which, blended with 15% Verdejo, is one of the stable of Tesco's Finest single varietals). However, Tim Holt, Barbadillo's sales export manager based in Sanlucar, is keen to remind consumers that there is much more to the company than volume.

Although Barbadillo makes amontillado, oloroso and palo cortado aged in soleras for over 30 years, it also possesses sherries that are much older. A hundred years or more to be precise. These amontillados are set to be made available later this year as single cask releases. Sarah-Jane Evans MW, arguably the leading UK sherry critic, and two MW students, including your correspondent, were given the chance to taste and assess a dozen of these remarkable wines at the bodega in Sanlucar this week.

"We have this liquid gold here," Holt declared. "We want to do something even more special and unique with them than the relic sherries we have. Whisky and Cognac does this with exceptionally old spirits, so why shouldn't we with sherry? This will be a one-off opportunity for buyers."

Potential buyers will, nevertheless, be having to write very large cheques. No price has been set but Holt is talking of €10,000 per 75cl bottle (the wine is still in cask and yet to be bottled). One ancient oloroso we tried with a whopping 13g/l of tartaric acid was not balanced, but the others, all of which varied in style, are sure to interest wealthy sherry collectors, particularly if the final asking price is revised downwards. The next 12 to 18 months look like being interesting times at Barbadillo.